I am interested in how plants interact with each other and other organisms in their environment, as well as the influence that human activities such as agriculture have on these interactions. My research aims to develop a better understanding of how field margin management, with an emphasis on perennial biodiversity plantings, affects associated weed and insect communities. On-farm biodiversity is a vital component of sustainable agriculture, and the establishment of native species near crop fields benefits farmers by attracting pollinators and insects that act as biocontrol agents. However, it is unclear how these plantings affect existing weed communities, or if the species commonly used in these plantings have the potential to become weedy themselves. The long-term goal of this research is to identify best management practices that allow farmers to maximize ecosystem services while simultaneously limiting competition between crops and weeds.
Publications
- Westbrook, A. S., Morris, S. H., Stup, R. S., Xia, R. H., Coffey, R. E., & DiTommaso, A. (2024). Annual flower strips increase biodiversity even if planting is delayed. Annals of Applied Biology. See article
- Westbrook, A. S., Stup, R. S., Morris, S. H., Ugine, T. A., & DiTommaso, A. (2024). Establishing flower strips near agricultural fields with minimal weed management. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 374, 109157. See article
- Stup, R. S., Westbrook, A. S., & DiTommaso, A. Impact of burial depth and root segment length on vegetative propagation of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Weed Science, 1-15. See article
- Marschner, C. A., Colucci, I., Stup, R. S., Westbrook, A. S., Brunharo, C. A., DiTommaso, A., & Mesgaran, M. B. (2024). Modeling weed seedling emergence for time-specific weed management: a systematic review. Weed Science, Published online 2024:1-17. doi10.1017/wsc.2024.25 See article
- Westbrook, A. S., Wilcox, N. R. K., Stup, R. S., Xu, S., Djuric, N., Coffey, R. E., Özaslan, C., Xia, R. H., Urmaza, S., Sher, M. A., & DiTommaso, A. (2024). What we still don’t know about weed diversity: A scoping review. Weed Research. (Accepted with minor revisions).
